So I spent a lot of time over the last few months finally processing all the photos I took in New Zealand back in May - and since pretty much just my family and co-workers were seeing them, I thought I'd share them here too.

My hope is that this can become sort of a Jedi Defender photography thread where everyone can share their photography and we can all pat eachother on the back. If that never materializes, at least I'm sharing mine.

So anyway, here are most of them more or less in chronological order. They get better as they go along. There are lots of images here, so you'll have to forgive me for the load time.

Additionally, the images from 'the farm' can't be posted now because they may be published at some point in the next year or three - but they're some of the best pictures I've ever taken...

If you make it down to where the snow-covered mountain (volcano) images are, that's where they shot a bunch of the Mordor stuff for LOTR.

It's amazing how much variety there is in New Zealand's terrain. You have areas that resemble Northern Europe, Central America, Africa, the American Rockies and Pacific Northwest, and frankly some things that look like they're from outer space. Really quite astounding for such a small country.

There are some really great pictures in there Rob. I've always wanted to go to New Zealand, and these pictures have just made me insanely jealous.

Just looking at all the pictures you can see why they chose New Zealand to shoot LOTR. It looks like earth, but there is definitely an almost unworldly feel to it. All those colors in the various springs and pools are absolutely gorgeous. That sprial looking plant is really cool looking. I really would think it came from another planet. Those mud pits are pretty neat too. There are quite a few pictures in there that could be in National Geographic.

You guys sure seemed to get around and saw a bit of everything. Fastastic work on those pictures Rob, and did I mention how jealous I am?

Thanks for sharing the pics Rob, those really look great. New Zealand is one of those places that the Mrs. and I call "if we could travel anywhere someday..." type of vacation. I really hope that we can do that someday, those pictures of yours remind me why - it looks like a beautiful and interesting place to go.

And the graffiti on the beach is kind of funny too: They even have jerks in New Zealand.

Yep - but not many. The entire country is pretty much clean as hell. Everyone thows their trash away, everyone recycles, for the most part, everyone really takes care of all that natural beauty they've got going on.